This story is well written and dramatized. It tells the worst case scenario when patients are not monitored when taking medications. This is usually the breakdown that occurs. It's as simple as that. Families are ill equipped to monitor medication usage if their family member has a mental illness. Most families are too busy or the patient won't allow the intrusion. Simple as that. Until that problem is solved and police/social workers have the ability to admit patients more easily to hospitals It will be an ongoing problem.
8 Reviews
Never had heard of this crime!
jsaladino-7135316 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
First for the reviewer who said the entire area from oneonta to Binghamton is all drugs and crime...oneonta and Binghamton are several counties apart and like an 1.5 hours from each other. Cooperstown is no where near the Binghamton area. There are good and bad places everywhere. Vestal is a well off area of Binghamton. There's other good areas and some bad ones.
Second, I grew up in many different parts of New York where events in this story took place and I had never heard of this...of course I was a kid when it happened. I too am perplexed that they changed the names but as a therapist now I think it's so sad that so many people with schizophrenia do not get the help they need and how many families I've seen whose hands are tied. Thankfully most people with schizophrenia are not violent. This story is just terrifying.
Second, I grew up in many different parts of New York where events in this story took place and I had never heard of this...of course I was a kid when it happened. I too am perplexed that they changed the names but as a therapist now I think it's so sad that so many people with schizophrenia do not get the help they need and how many families I've seen whose hands are tied. Thankfully most people with schizophrenia are not violent. This story is just terrifying.
Serves as a lesson
ahasara-898926 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This 23yo schizophrenic, Steven Miller, should have been institutionalized. Period. It appears the father, being a well-known attorney was more afraid of his own reputation having a schizo son than really addressing the seriousness of his son's condition. This is one more family that lived in denial.
It is so stereotypical of Americans to think just taking a pill solves every problem!
Apparently, the reality was Steven was a very problematic son all his life. Again, to be expected with serious mental illness.
This show didn't specify the actual mental problem--kind of pooh-poohed it and didn't delve into Steven's record of lawlessness & dangerous behavior.
Vanity, reputation of the father was more important to this family than getting the expert help this very mentally ill son needed.
It is so stereotypical of Americans to think just taking a pill solves every problem!
Apparently, the reality was Steven was a very problematic son all his life. Again, to be expected with serious mental illness.
This show didn't specify the actual mental problem--kind of pooh-poohed it and didn't delve into Steven's record of lawlessness & dangerous behavior.
Vanity, reputation of the father was more important to this family than getting the expert help this very mentally ill son needed.
Names changed
natwag21 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Steven Millers real name is Eban McDowell ... I don't understand why the names were changed in this episode ... The family should want their son to know what he's done and the world to know what he has done ...if you look up the name Steven Miller you will find nothing.... but I was able to find the real name.
STAMFORD, N.Y. -- A 23-year-old Delaware County man who killed four members of his family before dying in a shootout with police had assaulted his father earlier this year with an axe, authorities said Friday.
Eban McDowell was shot and killed Thursday after he fired a shotgun blast in the direction of state troopers and sheriff's deputies who cornered him at a remote pond near the Deer Run ski resort on the Delaware-Schoharie County border, about 55 miles southwest of Albany.
Earlier that day, the bodies of his father, Robert McDowell, 59, his mother Elizabeth, 48, his brother Daniel,, 22, and grandfather Charles Klepetar, 78, were found at Klepetar's hunting cabin outside the village of Stamford.
STAMFORD, N.Y. -- A 23-year-old Delaware County man who killed four members of his family before dying in a shootout with police had assaulted his father earlier this year with an axe, authorities said Friday.
Eban McDowell was shot and killed Thursday after he fired a shotgun blast in the direction of state troopers and sheriff's deputies who cornered him at a remote pond near the Deer Run ski resort on the Delaware-Schoharie County border, about 55 miles southwest of Albany.
Earlier that day, the bodies of his father, Robert McDowell, 59, his mother Elizabeth, 48, his brother Daniel,, 22, and grandfather Charles Klepetar, 78, were found at Klepetar's hunting cabin outside the village of Stamford.
I understand this dramatized for TV but...
lilmrsmoody22 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Since this is based on a true story I wish they had the actual details of this case correct in the show. Like why change the names completely when it was a national headline case in 1989. Also why change the city/town where the crime was actually committed. Here are some of the real details of what happened.
Eben McDowell, 23, of Stamford,NY was killed around 5 p.m. At a Schoharie County farm, where he'd fled after his father, mother, brother and grandfather were killed Wednesday in neighboring Delaware County, officials said.
The four were shot to death at the grandfather's cabin in woods just outside Stamford, about 50 miles southwest of Albany, said Delaware County Sheriff Paul Peterson.
Eben McDowell, 23, of Stamford,NY was killed around 5 p.m. At a Schoharie County farm, where he'd fled after his father, mother, brother and grandfather were killed Wednesday in neighboring Delaware County, officials said.
The four were shot to death at the grandfather's cabin in woods just outside Stamford, about 50 miles southwest of Albany, said Delaware County Sheriff Paul Peterson.
Awful dramatization of terrible crime
downcharlestown-cl16 August 2020
This episode was based on a true crime but the dramatization is both inaccurate and shallow. No attempt is made to explore the underlying pathology of the perpetrator's mental illness, whether the system failed, whether the system worked but is not able to prevent many crimes, or whether the connection to mental illness was largely incidental (in the sense that someone can be both mentally ill and also a criminal).
Even as entertainment this show falls short. It was not even very suspenseful or interesting. Don't waste your time.
Even as entertainment this show falls short. It was not even very suspenseful or interesting. Don't waste your time.
They changed a lot for this episode.
laurenmrc18 August 2019
The names where changed but unfortunately the show also attempted to make Oneonta and Binghamton New York look like a wonderful place. If you do your research or have had the misfortune of living in that area you'd know it's one of, if not, the most depressed areas of New York. A lot of mental illness and poverty driven crime occurs there. The nicer areas are closer to the baseball hall of fame.
Waste of time
aguilargeorge16 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Don't bother watching this if it's a True Crime Story you need to not change the names and you need to show pictures of the victims the family should have kicked him out and it showed that they were really stupid instead of calling 911 they just went up there
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